Nokia’s Ice Castle Melts as ‘Boring’ Phones Cut R&D
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Last November, Nokia Oyj researchers north of Helsinki chain-sawed a one-ton block of ice into 50-centimeter slabs and mounted them with infrared cameras to trace heat trails left by hands. Their goal: to study touch screens.
The “whimsical experiment,” inspired by Finland’s tradition of ice sculptures, was conducted by the Nokia Research Center’s Tampere branch, its website says. Together with projects such as building an electronic nose, stretchable electronic skin and sending anthropologists to Indian villages to observe rural mobile-phone use, it gave Nokia what analysts say is a bloated devices research and development budget.